Thursday, August 23, 2012

Pinterest for the win

Last week, my BFF K was nice enough to hand down a gazillion outfits to P that her son has outgrown. They are all super cute, but she did warn me that a lot of them had some stains and she hadn't really tried too hard to get any of them out. Meaning, they had been set in for over a year. A lot of the clothes are just play clothes and outfits I plan to use for daycare, but there were some really adorable things and I decided to attempt a hardcore stain removal.

After searching good ol' trusty Pinterest, it led me to a few sites who swore by a magic laundry cleaner with a few simple household items:

Hydrogen Peroxide, Dawn Dishsoap and Baking Soda. 3 things everyone pretty much always has on hand. You do 2 parts peroxide and 1 part Dawn and baking soda. I mixed up a lot so I did 1 cup of peroxide and 1/2 cup of the Dawn and soda.

Mix it up really well - it obviously starts to bubble up from the peroxide. With the baking soda, it sort of becomes thick and paste-like. Isn't the color so pretty?

After I had my solution made up, I headed down to our dungeon laundry room and got to work treating the stains.

This is the first outfit I worked on - isn't it adorable? I'm a sucker for anything with whales! You can't really tell from the picture, but there was a huge spit up stain going down the entire right side of this outfit. And it had been there for 2 years and washed and dried a million times to really set the stain in.

So I dumped a bunch of the mixture onto the stain. And yes, that's our baby monitor - had to use baby boy's nap time for something productive!

Then I used a brush to scrub the stain remover into the stain. As per the instructions, I let it sit for 1 hour to let it really soak in.

Again, these pictures really suck, but here's another stain on this adorable Polo outfit. Just take my word for it, the stain was there and really gross.

I mean, seriously, how adorable? You can see why I really wanted to get these stains out so baby boy could wear these!

Madras collar! The other side of the white color was super stained.

Again, hard to tell, but take my word for it! Gross baby food stain!

Nautical romper! OMG!

Spit up stain right on the front of the collar. Not cute.

So I applied the stain removed to like 8 outfits, scrubbed it in and let them all sit for an hour. Then I just washed them like normal.

I put the remaining solution into a water bottle for future use!

The results! I'm sorry that I can't truly capture how clean and bright white this turned out! The stain is 100% GONE!

I can't wait to put P in this!

And the collar of this one is now super white! Every single outfit came clean with zero stains left behind. I just wish I could capture it better on film, but I was blown away by how well it worked.

So I would highly recommend this for any stains, especially set in ones that are tough to get out. It's inexpensive as well, which is always a plus in my book. Gotta love Pinterest!

I found you on Pinterest and am interested in trying out this stain remover on my toddler's clothes. Do you know if you have to use Dawn specifically or if another dishsoap would work? I have Sunlight under my sink right now.

I use this exact recipe found off Pinterest- I don't measure specifically, just eye it. I have had some accidents with dark colors, and discoloration. I have had to be careful with my ratios of peroxide to the Dawn. But light colors I leave it on for several hours or overnight and there have been very few stains that this has not worked on. It's great!

Just an FYI re: hydrogen peroxide: once exposed tolight it starts to break down to water, which is why it is always in those dark brown bottles. So if you want to store any extra, you might want to black out the bottle, or find one that is! (ps: this mixture works amazing, great post!)

i have tried so many things before that haven't worked so i will give it a try. has anyone tried it with any other brand of dish soap? i have a load in already with my current dish soap so will let you know how it goes.

Hi! Thanks for this great stain remover recipie! Just curious if anyone had luck with it on newborn spit up stains and if the stains come back after a white... Particularly the yellowish ones on white or soft coloured clothing?

I cannot wait to try this. Expecting another Spring baby girl, so I've just pulled out all the newborn clothes and they are so stained since my daughter had reflux. I swear they were washed and clean when I packed them up. Something about them being in storage for 2 years that really brings the stains out. Gross. Hoping this works for me or reusing all the clothes won't be an option (really they're that bad!) Thanks!

This is great to know because I did a lot of second hand shopping and one lady at a yard sale gave me a giant box of baby clothes for 3 bucks and quite a few of the adorable outfits were badly stained from formula. I'm going to give this a try and see if I can't make those stains go away!!

Hey, great post. I just used this exact recipe on armpit stains on my husbands white shirts and work shirts. It was like magic! To answer questions for some of you, I used a 'no name' brand orange dish soap. It works just as good. Most of his shirts are now completely stain free, but some I will try to go back over as they are not completely gone(still noticeable better). Maybe it was because my arm was getting tired of scrubbing so many shirts at once (I got excited lol.) And this is safe to use on any fabric. Hydrogen Peroxide is simply water with an extra oxygen atom attached. Some people use this to clean lace or to make their own oxyclean. And it will not ruin any colors. Oh and the baking soda is to give you an added texture for scrubbing. Its not necessary, although helpful, but it also helps take out odors.

Hey, great post. I just used this exact recipe on armpit stains on my husbands white shirts and work shirts. It was like magic! To answer questions for some of you, I used a 'no name' brand orange dish soap. It works just as good. Most of his shirts are now completely stain free, but some I will try to go back over as they are not completely gone(still noticeable better). Maybe it was because my arm was getting tired of scrubbing so many shirts at once (I got excited lol.) And this is safe to use on any fabric. Hydrogen Peroxide is simply water with an extra oxygen atom attached. Some people use this to clean lace or to make their own oxyclean. And it will not ruin any colors. Oh and the baking soda is to give you an added texture for scrubbing. Its not necessary, although helpful, but it also helps take out odors.

Warning! Like Robin said a while ago, hydrogen peroxide WILL bleach some colors! It's quite good at bleaching dark blues, in fact. It just depends on the dye and fabric. If you have a dark color, test your solution first and consider reducing the amount of hydrogen peroxide.

I'm just wondering if you've gone back and used the left-over solution? Did it work? Pretty much everything I've ever read about using baking soda says not to save the solutions, since once activated, baking soda lasts a relatively short amount of time. That being said, I'm really excited to try this on my kid's stuff!!!!

You really should tamp gently with the brush, not scrub. I used to own a dry cleaners so trust me on this one. Your objective is to push the cleaner into the fibers of the clothing. If you rub or scrub you can damage the fabric.

Oh I am so glad I found this! I have a 20 year old outfit that my son wore home from the hospital that I really wanted to pass down to his son that's due in Aug. Going to try this if it works I will be so excited!

Be VERY careful when using a HE front loading washing machine. Mine completely busted out with suds and we had to get the wet vac out. It is on its third wash cycle and still not clean. Use with caution!!!

I have used a "magic" spray to get cat pee smell out of carpet that has the same ingredients. You CANNOT store peroxide and baking soda in a sealed container because it will bubble out and leak everywhere. When I had an incontinent cat, I would keep it in a spray bottle but leave the top unscrewed.

I have used the hydrogen peroxide mix for several years without the baking soda. It turns pink but still works. I have added the baking soda on tougher stains and scrubbed and that helps. Also with greasy stains, put Dawn directly on the spot and scrub and then add the combination.If Dawn can get oil out of ducks feathers, it can certainly work on our clothes.

Great post. I used it on my old baptism dress with hopes of getting it clean enough for my daughter's baptism next month. The dress had set in spit up stains that had been there 27 years and they came right out. Thanks so much for sharing.

Becci Brewster (or anyone else that has forgotten a load in the washing machine only for clothes to retain the mildew smell): wash them again (even if they have been dried) but add a cup of baking soda and a cup of white vinegar along with your regular detergent - mildew smell GONE and they smell fresh (no lingering vinegar smell, I promise!) it's safe for HE washers too :)

Oooh pooh oooh... My 13 mos old refuses to wear a bib and always has... Soooo needed this!!! Idea to combat peroxide breaking down due to light exposure... See if a spray bottle nozzel will fit an empty peroxide bottle or get out the trusty ole duct tape and tape up that spray bottle to block out the light. 😀

I have been doing this for years but here is what I use that is even better. I use tide with peroxide and oxy stain remover or dawn. Dawn is ok for something with a lot of grease but it saved me a lot of money on clothes instead of replacing them when it just had one big stain. It works on crochet items, I had a stain right on the middle of my breast and it was a 50 dollars sweater but the homemade cleaner took it right out with a little work.

I've tried every stain cleaner imaginable. My go to was a Fels Naptha Bar and it wouldn't get the stain spots out of my favorite new shirt. I tried this recipe and it really worked!! I immediately made a bottle each for my grown daughters who have 5 children between them.

I bought a dress on sale/marked down because it had makeup/lipstick around the neck,that is white, and the bottom (waist down) is black. Well I put stain remover on it and washed. WELLLL, the make up came out, but the white top half of the dress is now a dingy grey color...URGH...I've tried everything to get the white back to white, but no luck =( I'm going to try this, but do you all think it will effect the black color?

This recipe calls to mind one that I have used on numerous occasions. Not for laundry, actually, but to wash my dog after she had been sprayed by skunks. Multiple times. After the first time I used this recipe, I vowed to not ever buy any of the exorbitantly priced so called musk removers. Or tomato soup, which just left the dog smelling like skunk and sauce. Safe and non toxic, and also effective, although you have to rinse and repeat a few times, this is tried and true way to de-stink your pets if they have an encounter with a skunk.

Thank you so much! I discovered while folding little man's laundry over the weekend that he had what appeared to be squash stains all over the front of a brand new shirt. I have no idea how he got it on there but of course I didn't notice until after it had been dried. going to try this now!

Great tip. Love it. I was wondering if you are taking the pics with your flash on. I find when I shut the flash off, sometimes get the pictures I want. Or maybe you need to adjust the brightness on your camera? Hope it helps. Great post.

I used this on my husbands work shirts where he had some spots. I applied and let sit for 30 minutes, then used a scrub brush on them. Tossed into the wash and checked his shirt after washing. No more spots, however when I pulled them out of the dryer, the spots were gone and the area where the spots were, were cleaner than the shirt!

If it's in a clear bottle then the light is causing the peroxide to break down (back to water); that's why peroxide is sold in brown bottles, as mentioned above. You need a dark or blacked out bottle to store it in.

I have a brand new, white open cardigan that wasn't cheap and had two stains that accidentally went through the dryer. I followed these instructions exactly and they both came out the first time! Thanks!

For those that need something stronger that works perfect on baby spit up stains - I use this on all sorts of stains. Soak white or colorfast clothes in a a gallon or more hot water (depends on how many items you have to soak)that you have mixed with 1 cup chlorine bleach and 1 cup powdered automatic dishwasher soap like Cascade. It works miracles.

Just wondering, but anyone above that said they had colors fade if it was the Peroxide or if it could have been the Dawn. Now that Dawn is not all ORIGINAL and some is bleach added.Did the fading come from Dawn with bleach?Then again, I also heard you are better off using Peroxide instead of bleach in your laundry??

Storing the solution won't really work as the hydrogen peroxide has been activated. Ever notice that it's always in a light proof bottle when you buy it? Same reason. The foaming action you saw was due to the solution. Once that action is used up, it's gone forever.

Can I use any type of dawn soap or does it have to be the same dawn pictred? I have dawn platinum with bleach alternative. I'm afraid to use it and it causes a chemical reaction with the hydrogen peroxide.

For tomato based, i suggest rinsing with cool water, then blotting with lemon juice and letting dry. If still visible, soak in warm water (1qt) with one tsp dish soap and one tbsp white vinegar for 15-30min before laundering. Wash normally. If still persisting, repeat process until gone. Also, sunlight helps naturally bleach the stain.

I found your site somehow and I am dealing with an 18 yr old boy with pit stains in his favorite white shirts that I cannot make go away, I found your site with toddler clothes to help me. This is not age specific problem, tough stains are tough stains. Thank you from the future lol

Use Terra . got at home depot. It is AMAZING !!!!!! ans only $4 and takes a couple of min to set up. There is a science behind it bec it targets the queen bee which produces thousands of more ants e day!

Don't know if the softball stains are grass stains but cheap white toothpaste rubbed on as a prewash works really well on grass stains.Dish soap....do you mean the liquid soap used to wash plates etc by hand? (Sorry it is a Uk/USA language thing!)

Just tried this last night and it was AMAZING!!My beau had spilled coffee (we think) on a brand new shirt the first time he wore it, was unaware of the stain, the shirt was washed and dried and set in.....and hence not going to wear it again.since I was the one that bought the shirt I wasn't going to allow a perfectly good shirt be wasted....I turned to pinterest and found this posting.....the stain is gone without a trace!!I would also note that the shirt was a teal colour and there was no fabric discoloring! Thanks for posting this!!

You are officially my new hero! I am now eagerly searching through all of my family's dressers and closets for more stains to tackle. Next, I get to go through the totes of hand-me-downs from my sister to see what adorable outfits I can revive! I feel like a kid on a scavenger hunt! Yippee, off I go :)

An old lady, yrs ago at a garage sale told me to use a few eferdent tablets in a bucket of water and soak over night baby cloths in it that had spit up coths. I triedbit and stains came right out. Wasn't afraid to buy baby coths with stains at garage sales after that.

I just made up this concoction last night, put it in a water bottle as shown, and set it in the kitchen. This morning I came to the kitchen to see that EVERYTHING was splattered in this cleaner. The bottle had exploded. I have spent the last 4 hours wiping down my entire kitchen. I was so excited to use this, but now I am never ever using this again. It was not worth it what-so-ever. I notice a lot of the positive comments on here are from people that haven't even tried this.

I use baby powder, just sprinkle where you see them coming from. For some reason in the spring we will have trouble with ants coming from between the counter and stove, I just sprinkle baby powder in the space between the two n won't see any again till summer is almost over.

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These same three ingredients also make an effect skunk wash. Although I haven't had to try it yet, I keep it on hand cause we live in the country and have 5 small dogs that just might be dumb enough to chase a skunk!For a small dog, a solution of 1 quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide, ¼ cup of baking soda and a teaspoon of dawn liquid detergent should be enough.

Alex, my daughter is a dirt and stain magnet. After trying everything you can buy or mix up at home, I went to Walmart spent 98 cents on a bar of FELS-NAPTHA laundry bar. I cut it in 1/3's so it's easier to handle. use a little cold water, get the stain and end of the bar wet. Scrub the bar over the stain DONT use a scrub brush! Let the garment sit a few mins or even a couple days (bar says 2 min but things came up) then toss in washer and wash like you always do. This has gotten out glass, blood, spaghetti, dried mud, everything!!! Since I have a girl I'm talking getting those things out of pastel cotton blends.Best of luck to you!

I tried this today and it was too thick. I put it in a commercial spray bottle and it wouldn't spray. I ended up adding more peroxide and then it streamed but still wouldn't spray. I let it sit on clothes for 15 minutes (I usually don't at all when using Shout). Oil stains and grass stains stayed so I'm spraying again and will wash them again. Hopefully it works but I will probably try another recipe.

I tried the stain remover, and had some problems. Any tips? For me, I kept it out of light - my laundry area is away from windows and enclosed so that part was easy. While in there, the solution bubbled up in the bottle and spilled all over. I didn't have it filled to the top or anything so not sure why that happened. Then, despite that I'd mixed it well initially, the baking soda separated and is now stuck at the bottom of the bottle. No amount of mixing or, even, shaking dislodges it. :(

We have a newly adopted 14 year old grandaughter whom the son and daughter in law just had baptized and christened recently.The did her in the traditional,white,poofy,sleeveless,top of the knees baptism/christening dress with the matching bonnet,white tights and the white 'mary jane'shoes.Her baptism/christening diaper was cloth with rubberpants over it and a white camisole as her top.At her party,she sat on a chair that had pizza sauce spilled on it and got a stain on the back of her tights and it soaked thru and got the rubberpants also.She has to wear the diaper,rubberpants and tights with her communion dress this may.Will that solution get the stain out of the tights and rubberpants?